Boston College 71, UNC 65

Words fail me.

If UNC can't beat Boston College, even on the road, they can't win another game on their schedule. Because this, believe it or not, was a game where UNC played relatively well. They only had eleven turnovers. They had eleven offensive boards in the first half alone. They led by eight early, and not to far into the second half were up seven. I was worried that a big win here would give the team a false sense of accomplishment, as BC was such a poor opponent.

Well, no worry about that. The Eagles, who had been outrebounded in their last four games, starting hitting the boards, and there were a lot of boards to hit. UNC missed ten layups, something the more mathematically inclined among you might notice is well above the difference between winning and losing. BC also began getting points inside, after relying entirely on the occasional three to keep them close early. Carolina never gave up, coming back from a ten point deficit to cut it to three with under three minutes to play. Alas, a bogus goaltending call on John Henson put the lead back to five, after which the Heels' typical inability to finish down the stretch did them in.

Zeller had a decent game his first day back, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds, but only shooting 2 of 9 from the field. A good of the missed layups came from his hands. The rotation didn't extend much with his return, as most of his 16 minutes came at the expense of David Wear who played the lest since the game against UVa at the end of January. Thompson and Henson played strong, but the guard play was surprisingly quiet. Strickland, after looking early like he would be a factor, finished with only three shots.

I don't know what to say. At the moment, I fully expect the Heels to go winless the rest of the way, when as little as a week ago I thought a 7-9 ACC record was achievable. On the bright side there were passes off the face like earlier this week. Although the Heels did turn the ball over on the inbounds play after a made basket, when Marcus Ginyard jogged up the court completely unaware that Zeller had passed him the ball. This team won't make it to 2,000 wins. They won't make it to 1,999. Only N.C. State's utter futility keeps them out of last place. April can't come soon enough.